review: Battle Royale

Originally uploaded by revolver01.

I heard about this film some years back. I just heard that it was a violent piece of Japanese pop art. So I dismissed watching it until about a few weeks ago when my friend lent me a copy.

Dismissing it was one of the biggest mistakes I ever did.

I love this movie. And not just love in the euphemistic way, I mean I really DO love this movie. I want to embrace it and kiss it and maybe even marry it and have kids with it. The funny thing is, there are a lot of flaws that can be found in this movie, mainly plot-wise and acting-wise. But this makes it even more lovable, an exercise in the imperfections of filmmaking. And it works.

In the near future, the state of Japan has collapsed. Unemployment is at a rise as well as truancy. Adults are growing more and more afraid of the youth. And so it came to pass that the Battle Royale Act was implemented. As stated in the act, every year, a class is selected at random, shipped to an island and forced to fight each other to the death until only one remains.

The setup sounds like a premise for a violent videogame. But what sets the movie apart is not the body count, though the execution of which (pardon the pun) is briliant, but the care that goes with each individual student. The director, the late Kinji Fukusaku, takes time developing the characters before actually killing them, making the their deaths much more shocking and effective.

The legendary filmmaker also provides nice touches to the screen, providing us visual cues, up-to-date reports on the body count, and so on. It would be exciting if it weren't so chilling.

I like movies that revive the geek inside me. While the movie can be seen as a dangerous exercise in battling authority, one can't help but cheer on some of the contestants of Battle Royale. Like a reality game show taken to extreme heights, we have our favorites, the one we root for (mine was Chigusa and Mitsuko). Like I said, it would be exciting until you realize that you're screaming for bloody murder.

And with every death, we get closer and closer to the conclusion. It is not as shocking as one might think. The brilliance of the filmmakers is what comes after the game's end. At the film's requiem, each one is given a heart, a soul and a face. Even the Teacher played by Takeshi Kitano (as 'Beat' Takeshi) who provides a chilling, all to real performance.

That would be the point I guess. With every plot hole or miscues in acting, every flaw or goof in the movie, it rises above everything else. I heard somewhere (please post a comment on which movie this comes from), that it is the imperfections that makes one lovable. It is difficult to love something perfect because it is different from you and it is aware of its own perfection. Those films you admire. Those films you give reverence and worship to. It towers above you.

But flawed and imperfect movies are much more lovable. Instead of rising above you, They stay on the same level. And the great thing about it is, once it rises and elevates itself, it takes you along for the ride.

greenhorn

it's hard to be looked upon as the newcomer. the kid with no experience. that's what i've been feeling lately. it's hard to comment or suggest or do anything when working with people who have been doing this longer than you. there is a certain snobby attitude that goes against the new "kids".

but i ask, is there anything wrong with being new? you guys were new once upon a time. you guys may know about tech stuff and the like and all we can only offer are ourselves. being there for you guys. helping however which way we can. it's not because we have nothing better to do. it's not that we want to make things difficult for you. it's because we share the same passion. the same love for our work. production. and if we are more of a burden than anything, if we can't be trusted because we "don't know anything yet" or "we don't have experience", then fuck it.

i think it's time to prove ourselves. on our own.

we may not have the equipment, or the technical knowledge. but what we have is the passion for this art form that we love. and that is something no one can measure.

happy birthday man!

dad sipping coffee
Originally uploaded by revolver01.

it's my dad's birthday today. that's him in the picture. good job with us, pop. thanks for everything.

might as well...

i can't seem to sleep. or type my script.
here's something for the insomniacs and those with writer's block.

Muse
by Juan Miguel Sevilla

on the wings of pegasus,
there you are...

floating over the world
that you were too beautiful to inhabit

but
how do i fly.. with you?
how do i hold your hands?
or kiss you?

you belong amongst the clouds
with the stars
they shine in awe of you.

i can wait.
whenever you're ready to be my muse.
i'll just be here.

**********

i'm hungry. dude.

all alone in the smocket

all alone in the smocket
Originally uploaded by revolver01.

every inch of me will resist you...

distribution of grades is tomorrow. that registers a 10 on the boo-meter. i notice that the people always have a knack for showing up really early when lining up. the lines even reach up to the church of the gesu which is insane. i plan to show up around 10 or later when the lines have subsided. it would be fun to check on the faces of the people coming from the covered courts, some with smiles reaching up to their ears, some with pissed-off faces.

just one tip.. when talking with your friends on who you slept with during your beach trip or over the sem break, when gossiping about who passed out where or who got a new tattoo... please, i beg you.. don't hold up the line. there are some who'd like to get out of there as soon as possible.

there'll be talks of beach trips and other sem break shenanigans tomorrow. damn, got none of those. been working my ass off (well, not that much) as crew for some short films. i'm currently writing a horror film script for bobi bonifacio, who for my money, is one of the best filmmakers that ateneo has ever seen. that's what i have been up to, no juicy stuff to relate or angst-ridden ramblings for now.

by the way, check my review of "Battle Royale" soon.
also on my review list: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Shattered Glass and Battle Royale 2: Requiem

now if you excuse me, i have to go pee.

review: Don't Look Now

nicolas roeg paints every frame in "Don't Look Now" with a sense of dread. venice has never looked lonelier or depressing than this. on every corner, every turn of the canals, there is gloom and apprehension, shattered only by flashes of red to cue in the terror. the camerawork adds to the chilling aspect of the film. it zooms in viciously, circles around almost carelessly, and it gives no breathing room for the actors and actresses of the film. it creates a claustrophobic feel that few have succeeded in doing.

the performances are excellent. donald sutherland embodies his role with the proper amount of grief, joy and denial. i would call this one of the most realistic performances ever. alongside him is the beautiful julie christie. she adds warmth to the the film but at the same time, a creepy quality that only she could pull off. there is innocence in her actions and words that give an almost eerie quality when placed in the context of a dark and gloomy venice. one of the most famous love scenes ever captured in film is here. raw, passionate and beautiful. the genius in this scene is how it is intercut with scenes of them dressing up. it is a revelation and at once a retreat into consciousness. it gives off something and hides at the same time. never have i seen such pure emotion in a sex scene before.

the plot involves a couple who meets two sisters. one of them is blind and is psychic. she claims to have seen their dead daughter with them as they dined in a cafe. their daughter, it would seem, warns them of danger, saying they should leave venice at once. couple this with joe baxter (donald sutherland), seeing a figure in a red raincoat, just like her daughter, running around venice, seemingly stalking him. could this be the phantom of her dead daughter? also, there seems to be a series of murders occuring in venice, bodies are dragged out of the canals. are all these events related?

i would leave it up to you find out. but like all great horror, the ending doesn't aim to tie up loose ends to the plot, or provide an explanation for everything. the fear that it aims to impart to the audience is not mere fright and surprise. it settles in the mind like moss, unable to forget the images that we saw. it burns holes in the imagination, expanding it towards more fright, until you fear all dark corners, tounge-sticking gargoyles and of course, red raincoats.

Let's Start Over...

I should have put a bullet through my head. Or gulped down a bag of peanut M & M's.

Instead, I collapsed from exhaustion. I guess I was too tired to cry or feel anything when I got home. There were two bags: one paper, one plastic. There was a note attached on the paper bag. It hung there like an insipid love note, apathetic to the message it contains or to the person whose heart it'll break.

Inside the plastic bag were letters, poems, pictures and other stuff that would have brought me to tears. They say that before you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. For this, I had no choice. It was flaunted to my face, all the memories, all the laughs, the moments. She seemed to say: "I wished all of this never happened." And of course, near the end of the note, she actually did.

Unlike you, I wouldn't wish such a thing. I treasured every minute I spent being with you, thinking of you, dreaming about you. But if this is the way you want to end things, then I'll just have to learn to live with it. I guess we really are two very different persons, inhabiting completely polar opposites, feeling different things at the same time. The time may never come when we finally become cats. Or sunshine. Or clouds.

Just a hunch.